Day 1? Starting your weight loss journey on Friday, 13 September 2019? Start here!

Today is your Day 1?

Welcome to r/Loseit!

So you aren’t sure of how to start? Don’t worry! “How do I get started?” is our most asked question. r/Loseit has helped our users lose over 1,000,000 recorded pounds and these are the steps that we’ve found most useful for getting started.

Why you’re overweight

Our bodies are amazing (yes, yours too!). In order to survive before supermarkets, we had to be able to store energy to get us through lean times, we store this energy as adipose fat tissue. If you put more energy into your body than it needs, it stores it, for (potential) later use. When you put in less than it needs, it uses the stored energy. The more energy you have stored, the more overweight you are. The trick is to get your body to use the stored energy, which can only be done if you give it less energy than it needs, consistently.

Before You Start

The very first step is calculating your calorie needs. You can do that HERE. This will give you an approximation of your calorie needs for the day. The next step is to figure how quickly you want to lose the fat. One pound of fat is equal to 3500 calories. So to lose 1 pound of fat per week you will need to consume 500 calories less than your TDEE (daily calorie needs from the link above). 750 calories less will result in 1.5 pounds and 1000 calories is an aggressive 2 pounds per week.

Tracking

Here is where it begins to resemble work. The most efficient way to lose the weight you desire is to track your calorie intake. This has gotten much simpler over the years and today it can be done right from your smartphone or computer. r/loseit recommends an app like MyFitnessPal, Loseit! (unaffiliated), or Cronometer. Create an account and be honest with it about your current stats, activities, and goals. This is your tracker and no one else needs to see it so don’t cheat the numbers. You’ll find large user created databases that make logging and tracking your food and drinks easy with just the tap of the screen or the push of a button. We also highly recommend the use of a digital kitchen scale for accuracy. Knowing how much of what you're eating is more important than what you're eating. Why? This may explain it.

Creating Your Deficit

How do you create a deficit? This is up to you. r/loseit has a few recommendations but ultimately that decision is yours. There is no perfect diet for everyone. There is a perfect diet for you and you can create it. You can eat less of exactly what you eat now. If you like pizza you can have pizza. Have 2 slices instead of 4. You can try lower calorie replacements for calorie dense foods. Some of the communities favorites are cauliflower rice, zucchini noodles, spaghetti squash in place of their more calorie rich cousins. If it appeals to you an entire dietary change like Keto, Paleo, Vegetarian.

The most important thing to remember is that this selection of foods works for you. Sustainability is the key to long term weight management success. If you hate what you’re eating you won’t stick to it.

Exercise

Is NOT mandatory. You can lose fat and create a deficit through diet alone. There is no requirement of exercise to lose weight.

It has it’s own benefits though. You will burn extra calories. Exercise is shown to be beneficial to mental health and creates an endorphin rush as well. It makes people feel awesome and has been linked to higher rates of long term success when physical activity is included in lifestyle changes.

Crawl, Walk, Run

It can seem like one needs to make a 180 degree course correction to find success. That isn’t necessarily true. Many of our users find that creating small initial changes that build a foundation allows them to progress forward in even, sustained, increments.

Acceptance

You will struggle. We have all struggled. This is natural. There is no tip or trick to get through this though. We encourage you to recognize why you are struggling and forgive yourself for whatever reason that may be. If you overindulged at your last meal that is ok. You can resolve to make the next meal better.

Do not let the pursuit of perfect get in the way of progress. We don’t need perfect. We just want better.

Additional resources

Now you’re ready to do this. Here are more details, that may help you refine your plan.

• Quick Start Guide - Build your foundation!
• Loseit Compendium - Frame it out!
• FAQ - Answers to our most Frequently Asked Questions!

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Weight loss plateau (1.5 month): what am I doing wrong?!

I (F 5'9") have lost 31lb since January of this year. The first 'part' of this was unmonitored, i.e. I didn't check my weight from January (253lb) until the beginning of June (242lb). The second was from the start of June until the beginning of August, when I went from 242lb to 222lb. Since the beginning of August, I have lost and gained the same 2lb repeatedly, and it's becoming extremely frustrating.

When I lost the first 11lb, I was still eating like crap but significantly less of it. For the next 20lb, I did keto. I stopped keto and the end of July because I was having incredibly strong carb-cravings. Since then, I've been doing calorie control... which has not been working for me.

Your first thought will probably be exactly what mine was: you're seriously underestimating your calorie intake. So I decided to keep a food diary for a week, and found that I was eating no more than 1500kcal on a normal day, and about 2000kcal if I went off-plan and ate something I shouldn't. And there were very few off-days over the last month and a half. Along with cutting calories, I've been going to the gym no fewer than four times a week, doing twenty minutes of cardio and about forty minutes of strength training at a time. According to the BMR/TDE calculator I used (https://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/ ), my TDE is around 2200kcal per day when my activity level is set to 'sedentary'.

So what am I doing wrong? Has anyone else experienced this? Do I just go back on keto? The carb-cravings were pretty awful, but maybe they'd be worth it to see if I can get past this? V much appreciative of any and all advice, TIA

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Finally lost weight after years of failure, I am now told “You don’t look good”.

Excuse my formatting as I am on mobile.

I’ve had thyroid issues for years now which has caused my weight to fluctuate. I’d jump from overweight to obese to overweight again. My whole life I’ve always been considered the fat sister in the family. After struggling to lose weight following the birth of my son I finally learned about nutrition and portion control and got my weight under control.

I started with CICO but switched to IF because I felt more energetic. I lost about 50 pounds in 18 months. For the first time in my life I am a healthy weight. You would think my family would be happy for me... nope. A family member called to let me know they saw a recent photo of me and that I don’t look good. I’m too skinny, I’m photoshopped looking and I need to eat more. That I must be depressed and not taking care of myself to be so thin.

Technically I’m still 3 pounds away from a normal BMI, and sometimes I still feel self conscious. But I’d be lying if I didn’t say that hurt. Wish I had the support of my family in this journey! But I’m not going to let their lack of support get in my way! I heard it’s pretty common for people to make comments after a large weight loss, just seems rude to me to be anything but supportive!

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Magnesium: Needs, benefits and how to get more

Magnesium is one of the most important essential minerals for human health, along with sodium, potassium, and calcium. It’s known to be a vital cofactor for several hundred metabolic processes that keep us alive and well (some estimates suggest magnesium is need for up to 600 different biochemical reactions in our bodies!). 

Our bodies contain about 25 milligrams of magnesium, most of which is found in our bones, muscles and brain.  About 1% of our magnesium circulates through our bloodstream. 

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Struggling with people in my life not noticing

This will probably become a rant; I apologize in advance, but I needed to get it off my chest.

I [24F] decided to track calories at the end of May. I wasn’t overweight (5ft 4 and 130lbs). I was curious why I wasn’t a lower weight or body fat percentage, consider how much I went to the gym. I realized I had huge inconsistencies in my diet. Over a week, I went from 700 calories one day to 2100 calories another. I decided to actively limit myself to 1600. The intention was to be consistent in my diet and feel better physically.

I went on a vacation and we didn’t have a car so we ended up walking 5-8 miles a day. When I got home, I was 125lbs. In high school, I struggled with an eating disorder and so it was amazing to me that I had lost weight without it being due to starvation or purging. So I decided to keep it up and try to lose weight in a safe and healthy way. My goal is 120lbs, with a lower fat percentage than before (aka more muscle).

I’ve noticed that my workplace has a toxic diet/body shaming culture. The boss will constantly bring in unhealthy snacks, refuse to have any herself, and then loudly mention if any of us have some. Most Friday’s during the last few months, she’s brought in candy and said something to me like, “There’s ten little bags in there of candy. I expect there to only be one left when you’re done with it!” I’m the youngest person in the office. She’s a nice person and super in shape, but she has deep seeded self esteem issues and she projects. A lot.

As of this morning, I’m at 121.8 lbs and I’m really fucking proud of myself. I’m proud of myself for staying healthy. I’m proud of myself for staying ABOVE 1000 calories every day. I’m proud of myself for saying no to candy and chips when I don’t need them, but forgiving myself for breaking that rule and having them on occasion. I’m proud of myself for not making myself throw up after a day of bad eating. I’m proud of myself for going on a walk nearly every day and scheduling mental health days when needed.

I told my mom and her first reaction was to tell me that it’s easy to fall into bad habits and I should be careful not to lose too much. My dad hasn’t noticed-we see each other every week. I don’t feel comfortable telling my best friend the amount of weight I lost because she works in an imagine-focused industry and is struggling with gaining weight this summer. No one at work has said anything, even though it seems pretty obvious to me. I know it’s less than 10lbs, but my old clothes are too big now, my face has slimmed down a bit, my muscles are more defined.

I’m aware of the risks of unhealthy or rapid weight loss and I DO appreciate that people in my life care about me enough to bring that up. I’m taking this time to not just change my physical habits but also the way I talk to myself.

This feels stupid to write but I just wish someone would see my hard work and progress and be proud of me. In the meantime, I’ll just have to remind myself of how far I’ve come and remember to be kind to myself.

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I need some help/encouragement

I’ve been on a weight loss journey since February. I used to weight 448. Im down to 322.

The problem I’m having is, I was down to 315 the week before last. MyFitnessPal says I can eat 2080 calories. That’s a little low but okay. I was doing okay with it and still losing. Last week, everything went to shit. Hectic schedule. Stress. Travel. My eating was absolutely garbage. I expected to see the numbers on the scale go up.

I weighed Monday and I was up to 320. Not much surprise there. Hit me right in the stomach thought and discouraged me greatest. I weighed this morning and I’m 322! I feel like I’m out of control. I’m getting sugar cravings. I have less than 200 calories left for the day and I haven’t even had dinner.

I feel like I’ve lost total control and I’m in my way back to 400 pounds. I don’t want to go back. Ever. But I suddenly feel powerless again. Like I’ve completely lost the battle.

Please help.

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Went to see IT part 2 and enjoyed reflecting on the character Ben and the mental side of weight loss... (light spoilers included.)

Aside from the wacky horror and in your face comedy, the message in It Chapter Two really resonated well in some places, I feel. Especially around what I feel a lot of people go through on this subreddit or on a weight loss journey in general.

I myself have been overweight as a child and can relate to the character Ben in It quite well in that even if you’re not a new kid, when I was overweight and shy and thought everyone was talking about me all the time due to occasional bullying, I felt like “the new kid” every day. That alien feeling that you don’t belong, even if you have been existing in some place much longer than actual new people that come and go.

In part two, we see Ben’s transformation into supposedly a fitness minded man. He’s obviously lost weight and got in shape. All of his losers club friends are delighted upon first meeting him, sure because they are shocked at the difference, but also because he was a close friend of theirs when they all went through a traumatic experience together, and in a way-became stronger for it.

The thing with Ben is, he still shows insecurity throughout the film.

When he realizes Beverly, who he had a crush on in the past, isn’t seeing him in a new light and is still fixated on thinking she loves Bill, he must be thinking “all that work I put in, and there is still something wrong with me?”

This is further emphasized by Pennywise telling him that no matter how many sit ups he does, he’s still going to die alone, and my thoughts on this is that even though you can change your life for the better, we still feel like the person we were before. We feel like we don’t deserve better than what we used to be.

I just thought I’d mention it and bring light to the fact that so many people who lose weight and reach their goal weight are still unhappy. Either for aesthetic reasons due to massive amounts of weight lost, or because they feel like they still aren’t happy and want to lose more and more and are never fully satisfied. No matter how much progress they make, they still feel like they were mentally back when they were overweight and remain unhappy despite all their hard work paying off.

The quote that drives this home from Ben is: “You pay for what you get, you own what you pay for... and sooner or later whatever you own comes back home to you.” Which I interpret as, at least in the weight loss regard, we pay for our weight and our overall health with our actions. We have to own that and own it to conquer it in order to become a better, healthier version of ourselves later on. But there is the risk of those negative feelings we had coming back home to us, even when we beat what we paid for.

Just thought I’d share, considering I saw the new It last night and just really enjoyed a few of the messages about how the past always seems to make us remember the bad parts and forget the good parts. And I hope that someday I and others who also have what we paid for showing up at our doorsteps time and time again will be able to keep the door closed and remember the progress we have made and focus on the good memories we will make opposed to the bad ones we can’t get over.

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